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“We probably do a lot of stuff that’s exactly the same, sometimes we wake up in the morning and we’re dressed the same, which is really weird,” Benfeito said after the Canadian duo finished behind the gold-medal winning team from China and the Mexican silver medallists.

“As soon as we were a team, we became best friends,” said the 23-year-old Benfeito. “We know each other so well. We do so much outside of diving … we have supper together, we go shopping, we do everything and I think that’s what makes us a really good team.

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“We need to know what each other is thinking, if I’m not doing well or she’s not doing well we know we can help each other.”

They were doing particularly well at the Olympic Park swimming venue, registering a personal-best score of 337.62 points — China’s Ruolin Chen and Hao Wang had 368.40, Mexico’s Alejandra Loza and Paola Sanchez had 343.32 — and being in the medal chase from start to finish in the five-dive event.

Standing on the platform waiting to for their final jump — the Canadians were eighth and last in the lineup — there was no question in their minds they’d get the bronze.

“I always follow the scoreboard so I knew exactly where we were situated,” said Benfeito.

“I told her all we have to do is land on our heads and we’ve got it. And that’s exactly what we did.”

The 25-year-old Filion, who dove with Benfeito at the 2008 Beijing Games, felt a strange sense of calm.

“I am always nervous but she’s really good at calming me down,” she said. “I get a little nauseous, I get nervous but the key for her to help me is not to talk about diving. On the platform, it was really surprising that we were extremely calm.

“That’s where I felt less stressful, I felt comfortable, I knew what I was doing, I was in control.”

Benfeito and Filion have been diving as a team since 2005 and have a handful of World Series titles to their credit on the global tour and a seventh-place finish in Beijing to draw from.

“It really comes with experience,” said Aaron Dziver, one of the team’s two coaches. “They know what it takes to get the job done, to get on the podium and to compete with the best in the world. This is not something that’s brand new to them so in a moment of pressure … I have a lot of faith in those girls and that’s a fantastic feeling.”

Benfeito had a special reason for wanting to get on the podium on Tuesday; her father Arthur was in the stands celebrating his 50th birthday.

“As soon as we finished, I pointed at him and he knew exactly what it meant.”

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